Press Release

King Statement on Chairman Walden’s Legislation to Reallocate D Block for Public Safety

Media Contact: (202) 226-8417

Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Rep. Peter T. King (R-NY), Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, issued the following statement in response to introduction of the “Jumpstarting Opportunity with Broadband Spectrum (JOBS) Act of 2011” by Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology:

“The legislation Chairman Walden unveiled today and will mark up on Thursday reallocates the D Block to public safety, which is an important and positive step in the long-sought goal of developing a national interoperable public safety wireless broadband network for use by our Nation’s first responders. Importantly, the bill provides significant funding for the construction of such a network.

“While this legislation tackles these important issues somewhat differently than my own bill, the Broadband for First Responders Act of 2011, I look forward to working with both Chairman Walden and Chairman Upton in providing public safety officials access to sufficient spectrum and new technologies in order to perform their duties.”

Note: In February, Chairman King introduced the bipartisan H.R. 607, the Broadband for First Responders Act of 2011, to reallocate the D Block portion of the communications spectrum to public safety. In 2010, he introduced a similar bill to accomplish the same reallocation of the D Block.